2014 The Tenth Day

            There is so much to share with you.  Up bright and early for a petite dejeuner.  The two very pleasant Flemish couples next door were a wee bit loud as they finished the last of the wine that Aaron had given them.  Consequently, I was forced to move several places away to find peace and quiet.  One of them had warned me of the giant slugs.  All night I envisioned the invasion of these creeping monsters!  None came.

            At breakfast we met another Dutch couple.  They were cycling from Seville back to Holland.  He was 66 and she was 55.  Both were fit as a fiddle.    

            As we were leaving Aaron found another problem on the trailer.  One of the clinch pins was missing.  Being the engineer that he is he jerry-rigged a solution.

            Cedric, the technician at Decathlon, fixed twice the number of spokes for half the price.  Go figure.  In Verdun, we replenished our supplies before heading to Charny-en-Meuse.

            We stayed on D-38 the entire way to Varennes.  The ride was reminiscent of the Yorkshire Dales with lots of ups and downs.  We passed a well-maintained French cemetery from WW I.  No matter the quality of the memorial, these young American, French, British, and German men were dead, a needless sacrifice.

Shortly before, Aaron’s trailer developed another problem.  Up ahead I saw him slow to a stop.  The bolt holding the trailer to the bike had fallen out.  Providence works in marvelous ways.  Out in the middle of nowhere, Aaron found a piece of barbwire.  Cutting off a piece he threaded it through the frame of the bike and the trailer and then twisted it tight.  Over and over again Aaron proves to be an absolute marvel. 

            Because of the trials and tribulations, we cut the ride short at Varennes.  For you history buffs, Louis XVI was captured in Varennes while fleeing Paris.  He was trying for Metz where he sought safe haven with the Austrian relatives of his wife, Marie Antoinette.  Instead, he was returned to Paris and lost his head.

There was also a marvelous tribute to the Americans who fought near here during WW I.  The efforts of the Americans in both world wars are well appreciated by the French.  Their motives were perfectly pure.  They came only to help and not for any material gain.  My surprise was how much further east the Americans fought.  My understanding was they never ventured much further east than Chateau-Thierry.

            The town was quite nice.  We picked up dinner at the grocery store and sleep tablets at the pharmacy.

            The very accommodating camp host who was Dutch suggested using an awning if the rains came.  With clear skies all around rains were unlikely.  Wrong again!  The first sprinkles fell at 11.  Within minutes thunder and lightning roared in like a freight train.  I hastily headed toward the shelter and Aaron hustled his tent away from the trees.  The storm raged for over two hours before petering out to a light rain lasting until 7.

            Bad weather should be with us all day and we have a big ride ahead of us.  Aaron only has four days of biking left.

            Much joy!!!

            Hardy